Desjourdy breaks silence, says he feared for woman’s safety

Shaamini Yogaretnam, OTTAWA CITIZEN01.06.2014

Sgt. Steven Desjourdy leaves the Elgin Street courthouse in Ottawa in January 2013 when he was on trial on a charge of sexual assault. He was acquitted of that charge but now faces an internal police disciplinary hearing related to the same incident.

OTTAWA — In the first time he’s spoken in his defence since being charged and acquitted of sexual assault, Sgt. Steven Desjourdy told his police disciplinary hearing Tuesday that he was in “disbelief” after a female prisoner’s “explosion of violence” in 2008 and worried the woman, whom he left topless in soiled pants inside a cell for more than three hours, might be suicidal.

Desjourdy described the behaviour of the woman at the centre of the cellblock case as a “flipped switch” — at one moment she was calm, the next she was kicking a female special constable at least two times. The woman’s name is protected by a publication ban.

What became a widely viewed surveillance video of the incident, released after a Citizen legal request, showed the special constable limping away.

Desjourdy testified that he tried to call in a replacement.

“In this case, I chose to intervene because my only female officer was injured,” Desjourdy said.

In the process of continuing to search the woman, Desjourdy cut the woman’s shirt and bra off.

He was charged with sexual assault by the Special Investigations Unit, a civilian watchdog that oversees police, but acquitted in 2013 when a judge ruled the behaviour was not excessive or abusive. His defence did not present a case in the criminal trial and Desjourdy did not testify.

The violence he observed from the woman during her intake was “unjustified,” Desjourdy testified Tuesday. He said he thought she might try to harm herself.

“Once she was in the cell, I was looking for a cooling-down period,” Desjourdy said. “She’s not in the state to make proper decisions. I’m worried for her safety at this point.”

Desjourdy said he continued to monitor the woman on a closed-circuit television feed and saw her flushing the toilet inside the cell for no apparent reason, pacing and trying to slide out through the bars.

“It’s not right,” he said. “It’s bizarre behaviour.”

It wasn’t until he was satisfied that a special constable could safely deliver a “blue suit” — a disposable, one-time-wear coverall — to the woman that he signalled for one to go over. Those suits can be ripped, braided and tied to the cells, which could aid someone intent on harming themselves.

Though three white “suicide gowns”, which can’t be manipulated and are much safer, were issued to the central cell in May of 2008, on Saturday, Sept. 6, when the woman was brought in, all three gowns, which are reusable but require cleaning, were either dirty or out to be cleaned.

“None were available,” Desjourdy said. “Hindsight is 20-20. They have many more now. Three wasn’t enough.”

The disciplinary hearing largely focuses on policies, both new and old, and whether Desjourdy breached them as they stood at the time of the incident.

Police prosecutor Bob Houston asked the officer what specifically about the woman’s behaviour suggested that she might be suicidal.

“Mr. Houston, you have to put yourself in my position,” Desjourdy implored. “She’s clearly demonstrated in a police building on video that she can very well assault a special constable.”

Desjourdy, as the sergeant in charge of the cells at the time, is responsible for the more-than-three-hour delay in giving the woman clothing to cover herself. The hearing will determine whether that conduct is discreditable.

According to his testimony Tuesday, however, the policy as it existed then and the current revamped version both fail to state a time frame when the suit ought to be provided.

Desjourdy was promoted to sergeant in December of 2007. As one of six of the most junior-ranking sergeants at the time, he began a one-year stint in the cellblocks in March of 2008. He testified that prior to taking over from an out-going sergeant, he received five shifts of on-the-job training and was told to review cellblock-related policies on the police intranet.

“I had no clue what I was getting into,” Desjourdy said of his thoughts before he began the training shifts.

Among those differences is more special constables on staff during each shift. Desjourdy said he typically had three but sometimes only two. On the morning of Sept. 6, he only had two, one of whom was then injured.